Your Daily Phil: Israel, JFNA partner on $66.7M plan to boost day schools
Add EJP on GoogleGood Monday morning!
IIn today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we cover the government of Israel’s new $66.7 million partnership with Jewish Federations of North America to expand Jewish day school education, and we sit down with Idan and Batia Ofer Family Foundation CEO Yaniv Halily to discuss the power of storytelling in philanthropy. We feature an opinion piece by Todd Polikoff reflecting on the relationship between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Maimonides’ Ladder of Charity, and a piece by Larry Glickman highlights the importance of cultural fluency in synagogue security efforts. Also in this issue: Adam Katz, David Chassid and Jaimie Mayer.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
The Jewish Agency for Israel‘s Board of Governors, which kicked off its annual meeting yesterday, is spending today on site visits in southern Israel; the meeting will conclude tomorrow afternoon in Tel Aviv.
The MIXiii Health-Tech.IL conference opens today in Jerusalem with remarks from Israel Advanced Technology Industries President & CEO Karin Mayer Rubinstein, Israel Innovation Authority CEO Dror Bin and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, alongside leading voices in health-tech from Israel and around the world.
The Aspen Ideas Festival continues today. Later this morning, The Atlantic’s David Brooks will moderate a panel on the importance of courage in leadership featuring Emma Bloomberg, Rye Barcott and Mike Buman.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM eJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
The Israeli government approved a NIS 100 million ($33.4 million) budget, which will be matched by philanthropic donations, to support Jewish day school education in the United States and Canada through the Jewish Federations of North America, whose leaders told eJewishPhilanthropy that the funding represents both substantive support and a symbolic gesture encouraging others to do the same.
In recent years, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks and rise in global antisemitism, formal Jewish education has become a growing focus for JFNA, which sees Jewish day schools as a top method of instilling strong Jewish identity in the next generation.
“There is clearly a moment today that there is recognition that lifting up and getting more of our children in Jewish education is critical since the events of Oct. 7,” Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of JFNA, told eJewishPhilanthropy today. “We know that there are sparks out there, so how do we turn this into a flame?”
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
Q&A
From newsroom to boardroom: Ofer Foundation CEO Halily stresses storytelling in philanthropy
When longtime Israeli journalist Yaniv Halily left the newspaper world to take over one of Israel’s leading family foundations, he reached back for an insight that guides reporters: the power of narrative. In an interview with eJewishPhilanthropy, Halily, who heads the Idan and Batia Ofer Family Foundation, discussed his unusual path to philanthropy, how he grappled with Jewish and Israeli engagement at America’s elite universities post-Oct. 7 and made the case to American Jewish donors for staying connected to Israel.
Justin Hayet: What practical advice would you give an American Jewish foundation looking to make a meaningful impact in Israel today?
Yaniv Halily: Try to understand what the real issues of the country are — not necessarily what’s important to you personally. Naturally, people donate to something close to their heart, but if you really want to help Israeli society, try to understand what the core issues are. Don’t do philanthropy for Israel — do philanthropy with Israel.
Opinion
PYRAMIDS AND LADDERS
What Maslow and Maimonides ask of our Jewish communal institutions
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Todd Polikoff, CEO of the Aaron Family JCC of Dallas, combines the ideas of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Rabbi Moses Maimonides’ eight levels of tzedakah into a unified theory.
“Read together, Maslow and Maimonides illuminate a single truth: the highest human aspiration and the highest philanthropic aspiration are the same. Self-actualization is the state in which a person has everything needed to pursue their deepest purpose; and the highest tzedakah is giving in a way that produces exactly that state in another person.”
BEST PRACTICES
Strengthening synagogue security: The case for cultural fluency
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Larry Glickman, founder and CEO of JCAT Partners, considers the next step in improving security initiatives for Jewish communities now that already many have the basics.
“With this strong foundation in place, the next layer isn’t more security tactics, but rather enhancing the cultural fluency of the guards protecting our Jewish institutions. We are not talking about inclusion or sensitivity training, but rather a foundational understanding of the distinct culture, faith and tradition characteristics of the community being protected.”
Worthy Reads
Flattening History: In the National Post, Adam Katz reflects on his visit to a controversial exhibit in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights on the displacement of Palestinians in 1948. “Rather than inviting Canadians to wrestle with one of the world’s most complex conflicts, it teaches visitors to understand the conflict as solely a consequence of Israel’s creation… and encourages the public to view millions of Jews as the beneficiaries and defenders of an ongoing historical injustice.”
The New Israeli: In Haaretz, pollster David Chassid argues that the Oct. 7 attacks and resulting years of war accelerated a generational shift producing a new blended Israeli. “For decades, Israel has tried to decide what it is: Western or Eastern? Jewish or liberal? Traditional or secular? The new Israeli does not try to decide, but rather combines all the parts together.”
Looking South: In The Times of Israel, Ariel Beery recommends that Israel move past its fraying relationship with the United States and instead deepen ties with the Global South. “Because as both the Americans and the Chinese are trying to make themselves Great Again, the Global South is working hard to make things better away from the hegemonic pull. Just better. And they could use Israel’s help.”
Major Gifts
The Siegel Family Endowment, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation and seven other major foundations pooled together $18 million under the banner Humanity AI to fund public-interest AI work focused on democracy, labor, journalism and education…
Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen, N.J., donated a Torah scroll on Friday to Beth Israel in Jackson, Miss., following the January arson attack that destroyed two of the synagogue’s Torah scrolls and damaged five others…
Transitions
Annie Minguez is joining New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Nonprofit Services as its executive director…
Word on the Street
The head of Venezuela’s largest Ashkenazi congregation said that three members of the country’s 5,000-strong Jewish community were confirmed to have been killed in the dual earthquakes that rocked the country last week…
In the latest warning sign about the state of the Israeli education system, data obtained by The Economist found that 22% of Israeli college students have math skills equivalent with those of 10-year-olds and 20% have the literacy skills of 10-year-olds, putting Israel in a far worse position in comparison to other OECD countries…
The Committee to Protect Journalists announced a full review of its Gaza journalist fatality database after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries revealing that dozens of individuals previously listed as journalists were in fact members of terrorist organizations, as Israel has long claimed…
A board member from the ZAKA emergency response organization filed a lawsuit against the group in Jerusalem demanding that it investigate a $26 million disparity between what was donated to its affiliates abroad in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks and what actually reached the organization…
Inside Philanthropy profiles Jaimie Mayer, former board chair of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, who after seven years at the helm of the foundation stepped down to launch Middle Child Philanthropy, an advisory firm helping multigenerational families navigate impact investing and intergenerational giving…
The State of Maryland is partnering with Raise Us, a nonprofit backed by over $500 million from major tech companies, to build workforce training programs ahead of widespread AI-driven job disruption…
The Times of Israel spotlights Jerusalem nonprofit Metzilot HaMazon, which launched the Urban Food Policy Forum as it pushes for citywide coordination to reduce waste in a city where more than half of children live below the poverty line…
Israel’s Cabinet approved a five-year, $120 million investment package to strengthen the city of Eilat’s infrastructure, healthcare, tourism and economy…
Investment in Israeli health tech startups fell 40% in 2025 to a five-year low of $1.6 billion as the ongoing war and geopolitical uncertainty deterred private funding…
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner are teaming up to potentially acquire a majority stake in one of the NBA’s planned Las Vegas expansion teams through Kushner’s holding company Thrive Eternal…
Pic of the Day
Members of SmartAid’s Magen search-and-rescue team dig through the rubble of a building in Caracas, Venezuela, yesterday after it collapsed in last week’s back-to-back earthquakes, which have caused massive damage throughout the area and killed more than 1,450 people.
Shachar Zahavi, SmartAid’s CEO, told eJewishPhilanthropy that his organization’s team was working to rescue a boy who was trapped and to retrieve the remains of a man who was killed in the tremors.
Birthdays
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, president and dean of Phoenix-based Valley Beit Midrash and author of 30 books
Marshall S. Bedine, Baltimore-area gastroenterologist, he is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Micky Arison, chairman of Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise ship operator (includes Carnival, Cunard, Holland America and others), and owner of the NBA’s Miami Heat, turns 77
Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Soloveitchik, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Brisk in Jerusalem, turns 77
Susan Jane Blumenthal, M.D., former assistant surgeon general of the U.S. and deputy assistant secretary of HHS for women’s health, turns 74
Bruce A. Soll, former SVP and counsel at Columbus, Ohio-based L Brands for almost 30 years, now a consultant
Joshua Karlin, CEO of two firms including Aliya Marketing Group
Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari, Israeli actor, screenwriter, playwright and film director, turns 66
Andrew Murstein, founder and president of Medallion Financial Corp., turns 62
Matthew Hoffman Weiner, screenwriter, director and producer, he has won nine Emmy Awards for his work on AMC’s “Mad Men” and HBO’s “The Sopranos,” turns 61
Rabbi Steven C. Wernick, senior rabbi of Toronto’s Beth Tzedec Congregation, turns 59
Allan Heinberg, theater, film and television screenwriter, his credits include the 2017 film “Wonder Woman,” turns 59
Ari Harow, Israeli political consultant and former chief of staff to Prime Minister Netanyahu, turns 53
Nanette Rochelle Fridman, consultant, facilitator, trainer and coach
Rabbi Gidon Moskovitz, rabbi of The Young Israel of Bal Harbour (Fla.)
Gillian Robespierre, film and television director and writer, she is known for writing and directing the films “Obvious Child” and “Landline,”, turns 48
Baroness Ruth Smeeth, former member of the U.K. Parliament for the Labour party, she is now a member of the House of Lords, turns 47
Yehuda Levi, Israeli actor and model, turns 47
Andrew Duberstein, partner at FGS Global
Charles Irvin “Bubby” Rossman, pitcher for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he then played in the Mexican League, turns 34
David Wolf, campaign finance consultant, who has raised money for Hillary Clinton and the DNC
Steven Kohn
Sara Sansone
Fred Gruber
